This invention relates generally to apparatus for cleaning pulp suspensions. More particularly, the present invention relates to screens for cleaning pulp suspensions.
Screens are machines used in the paper industry for the purpose of cleaning a pulp suspension consisting of water, fibers and dirt particles. In doing so, a feed flow is led over a screening device, with the accept stream consisting of water and fibers through the screen. A partial stream, called the reject stream, consisting of water, fibers and dirt particles, is generally withdrawn from the end located opposite the feed end. Generally speaking, such a screen is designed rotationally symmetrically and consists of a casing with a tangentially arranged infeed, a cylindrical screen basket, mostly with holes or vertical slots, and a revolving rotor. The rotor has the task of keeping the screen slots clear, and this is achieved by blades which rotate just below the screen surface. The accept stream is collected in an accept chamber, often one of a conical design, and extracted radially at some point. The reject stream is generally led to the end of the screen basket opposite the infeed into a reject chamber, which is in most cases annular, and extracted from the chamber tangentially. Such a screen is known for instance from U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,381. The disadvantage of these screening machines consists in the risk of clogging at low flow rates occurring in the relatively large reject chamber. Also, non-uniform inflow into the screen basket and non-uniform flow conditions in the accept chamber, especially in the area of the accept discharge, occur,
The purpose of the invention is, therefore, to create an improvement of the flow conditions in the screen in order to decrease the energy used at increased production rate and dirt removal.
The invention is therefore characterized by a stationary installation, which may be designed rotationally symmetrically, being provided in the infeed area between the tube branch and the end of the rotor. This gives a substantial improvement of the flow conditions and as a consequence, a reduction of the amount of energy used.
An advantageous advancement of the invention is characterized by the installation being a cone, a truncated cone, a hemisphere, a spherical segment, spheric segment between two parallel circles, a paraboloid, or a hyperboloid of two sheets.
A favorable variant of the invention is characterized by the cone angle a amounting to between 10xc2x0 and 60xc2x0 for installations designed as a cone or truncated cone.
A favorable advancement of the invention is characterized by the axis of the infeed branch being arranged in parallel to the cone shell. This allows better routing of the flow and further reduction of the energy losses.
A favorable, alternative variant of the invention is characterized by the installation being a spiral-shaped body, with the pitch of the spiral being selectable such that the flow speed in the infeed area is kept constant over the entire screen basket width.
An advantageous advancement of the invention is characterized by the installation being arranged centrally.
An advantageous variant of the invention is characterized by the accept chamber being designed double-conically.
An advantageous advancement of the invention is characterized by the screen being designed as double machine.
A favorable advancement of the invention is characterized by the infeed taking place axially through the rotor.
A favorable variant of the invention is characterized by the drive-side rotor part being of the same height as or higher than the rotor part on the other side of the drive into which and through which the pulp flows.
A favorable variant of the invention is characterized by the infeed taking place centrally from the side.
An advantageous advancement of the invention is characterized by two accept discharges being provided.
An advantageous variant of the invention is characterized by the screen being arranged horizontally.
A favorable advancement of the invention is characterized by a screen basket for preliminary screening, which turns together with the rotor, being provided in the infeed area, with rotating blades possibly being provided in the preliminary screening area.
A favorable advancement of the invention is characterized by the rotor having several blades arranged at different heights and/or distributed over the circumference.